Softball travels to Florida for NTC spring games

The Minnesota State softball team is set to travel to Clermont, Fla this weekend to compete in a series of ten spring games. The Mavericks head to Florida with a 6-3 overall record and have yet to compete in any conference games.

This weekend’s spring games for the Mavericks are part of the world’s largest softball tournament that takes place every year. The NTC Spring Games host hundreds of softball teams across the nation from the Division I Madeira level to the Independent level. 

The Mavericks have had a long break since their last set of games, which took place Feb. 4-6 in the Portolite & Field Turf MSU Invitational Softball Tournament. The Mavs won their first two games of the tournament against Northwest Missouri and Washburn before dropping their third game to Missouri Western. MSU was able to rebound quickly, defeating Washburn again and also Lewis.

Minnesota State then returned to action Feb. 20-21 for a set of games against Northwest Missouri and Central Missouri in Maryville, Mo. The Mavericks bested Northwest Missouri in their first game, winning by a score of 11-3 in only 5 innings, before dropping their second game to Central Missouri just a few hours later. 

The Mavs would have a rematch with Central Missouri just a day later, taking that game 4-0. MSU would end the set of games with a rematch against Northwest Missouri, falling by a final score of 2-3. 

At this point in the season, sophomore Katie Bracken leads the team in batting average, sporting a .400 average and one home run on the season. Bracken also leads in pitching this season with a 1.58 earned run average and has three wins on the season with no losses.

Sophomore Kylie Sullivan follows closely behind Bracken in batting average with a .391 on 23 at-bats. Senior Mackenzie Ward is second on the team in earned run average for pitching at 1.75. 

Bracken also leads the team in on-base percentage at .571. Senior infielder Hailey Forshee leads the Mavericks in putouts at 62 with zero errors. 

Minnesota State will open their NTC tournament with two games on Mar. 5 against Tiffin and Southern Indiana. Start times for the games will be at 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.

The Mavs will return to action the next day on Mar. 6 with a pair of games against Edinboro and Shippensburg. Those games will start at 1:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.

MSU will continue their tournament the next day taking on Northwood and Saginaw Valley State. Start times for those games will be at 10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. 

Minnesota State will have a day break before returning to action on Mar. 9 against Bloomfield College and Clarion University. These games will begin at 2:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.

The Mavs will conclude their tournament with a pair of games against Concord on Mar. 10. Start times for these games are set for 10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. All start times are in Eastern standard time.

Header Photo: Senior infielder Hailey Forshee (6) leads the Mavericks in putouts at 62 with zero errors. Forshee averages .357 at the plate and has collected nine RBIs. (Maddie Behrens/The Reporter)

Write to Karson Buelow at karson.buelow@mnsu.edu.